30 November 2014

It's time for this month's Secret Recipe Club! The Secret Recipe Club is a group of food bloggers who secretly make one of someone else's dishes and post them all on the same day at the same time. It's really fun, choosing a recipe to make, making the recipe, then reading about everyone else's recipes. It's a great way to "meet" other bloggers and check out some great blogs that you never knew about before.

Did anyone else feel like November just flew by? I did! I was working on my Thanksgiving menu when I finally got the chance to sit down and peruse Sara's blog for my assignment this month. I knew that we would be posting after Thanksgiving, but I just couldn't help including one of her lovely dishes on my Thanksgiving table this year. Not to worry, though, because this dish would be equally amazing for a Christmas dinner. Her Butternut Squash Gratin with Goat Cheese and Bacon looked irresistible to me. Every Thanksgiving I make my family's favorite Sweet Potato Casserole, but I decided to give it a break this year in favor of this awesome butternut squash gratin. I broke the news gently to my husband, who made me promise to make the sweet potatoes some other time this coming month. But I think he forgot all about them once he tried this squash gratin.

Butternut Squash Gratin with Goat Cheese and Bacon

Ingredients:

8 cups cubed butternut squash (½” cubes)

2 tbsp + 1 tsp olive oil

Kosher salt

2 tsp smoked paprika

2 shallots, minced

4 slices bacon, cooked and chopped

4 oz. goat cheese

½ cup heavy cream

½ cup pecans, chopped

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 400°. Place the squash on a rimmed baking sheet (or divide between 2 baking sheets) and toss with 2 tbsp of oil, Kosher salt, and smoked paprika. Roast in the oven for about 20 minutes or until squash is slightly tender. Remove from oven and place squash in a medium mixing bowl. Reduce oven temperature to 375°.

Heat remaining 1 tsp olive oil over medium heat and sauté the shallot until it becomes translucent and tender. Add shallot and chopped bacon to the butternut squash. Crumble the goat cheese into the squash mixture and mix well. If the squash is still warm, the goat cheese will melt, which is fine.

Pour squash mixture into a 1.5 – 2 quart baking dish. Drizzle with the heavy cream and top with the chopped pecans. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until hot and bubbly. Serve warm.

Makes 6 servings.

This dish made a beautiful addition to my Thanksgiving table this year.

I know this is not a great picture, but it's the only one I managed to snap of the gratin plated up before it totally disappeared! The goat cheese melted as I stirred it into the warm butternut squash cubes. I wasn't really expecting that, but I think it worked out really well that way.

This gratin was so amazing. It really has a little bit of everything going on: sweet, smoky, tangy, salty, creamy, and crunchy. It is truly a delight for the senses! I really loved how it was decidedly savory, despite the sweetness of the squash. People have a tendency to make butternut squash (and sweet potatoes) even sweeter with brown sugar and cinnamon, etc, but I love finding recipes that make them savory. I made a few tweaks to Sara's recipe. First, I changed the flavor profile slightly by using smoked paprika instead of sage. My family are not huge sage fans and I am more than a little obsessed with smoked paprika. It just goes so well with butternut squash! The only other thing I changed was to use shallots instead of leeks. My husband really doesn't like leeks, and I wanted him to love this dish, so I used shallots instead. It was a good call because he definitely did love this dish.

I think he's in trouble, though, because I would love to make this every. single. Thanksgiving. from now on!

Please don't wait until next Thanksgiving to make this dish! It would be a great addition to your Christmas dinner. Thank you so much for sharing such a great recipe, Sara!

Be sure to check out all the other great SRC recipes below. Group A is taking a break in January, so our next posting will be the first Monday in February.